HIROSHIMA, Aug. 2 Kyodo, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said Wednesday he will call on all nations to ''faithfully'' engage in nuclear disarmament negotiations at Sunday's ceremony marking the 61st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city.

Akiba will encourage efforts to urge nuclear-weapons states to rule out cities as targets of a nuclear attack, according to a gist of the Peace Declaration he released.

The anniversary comes amid lingering concerns in international society over the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran as well as the Middle East crisis in which many citizens have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Lebanese village.

The declaration will say that nuclear weapons have not been eliminated because many countries and people have failed to accept a historic advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice 10 years ago involving nuclear disarmament.

The court advised that all nations are under the obligation to pursue negotiations in ''good faith'' and conclude measures leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects.

Akiba is to declare that he will step up his efforts, along with other municipalities belonging to the ''Mayors for Peace'' organization, which he heads, in promoting the ''Good Faith Challenge'' campaign which calls on all nations to fulfill the obligation.

He will also ask the Japanese government to preserve its pacifist Constitution and enhance the support of aging atomic bomb survivors.

The Hiroshima mayor said he drafted this year's Peace Declaration using expressions that are easily understandable so that people will be encouraged to work on efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.

2006-08-02 16:11:25JST